Crap Towns / County Durham / Willington
Willington
82/100Crap Score
Too small for the table, which starts at 10,000 people, but it still scores 82. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Wembley was ages ago, lads
The football team won at Wembley once. The derelict site on Coronation Terrace is still there.
Willington's big moment was the football team winning at Wembley, a long time ago. Since then the pit's gone and the derelict site on Coronation Terrace has sat waiting to be cleared for years. People park across drives on Cumberland Terrace, and the High Street is vape shops, bookies and pubs.
The overflows nearby dump sewage for over twenty-two times the typical town's hours. That's not a typo. Vandalism's three times the typical town's, anti-social behaviour more than twice, and things get set on fire at about eleven times. Bishop Auckland's still crapper, which is about the only cup Willington's won since.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Willington's 99 for sewage spills means it's crapper than 99% of towns.
- Sewage spills99/1006,173 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Criminal damage and arson99/10020.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Deliberate fires98/10062.9 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour96/10033.0 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Rain62/100135 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Fly-tipping56/10010.5 incidents per 1,000 people a year, County Durham council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Broadband52/1005.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 14.6% across the County Durham council area
- Food hygiene50/1002.4% rated 0 to 2, of the 41 food businesses with a rating
- Serious road collisions21/1001.4 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution10/1004.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 5.3 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bishop Auckland | 95 |
| 2 | Stanley | 88 |
| – | Willington | 82 |
| 3 | Darlington | 80 |
| 4 | Hartlepool | 79 |
| 5 | Chester-le-Street | 77 |
| 6 | Spennymoor | 74 |
| 7 | Stockton-on-Tees | 73 |
| 8 | Peterlee | 71 |
Willington by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 124 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 1.6x the typical town's 76.2
- 1 problem reported on FixMyStreet in the year to October 2026 Better: 1.8 per 10,000 people, 91% lower than the typical town's 20.4
- 2 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2019
What's left on the high street
- 5 pubs, 1 hairdresser, 1 charity shop, 1 bookmaker, 1 vape shop on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 2 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 3.5 per 10,000 people, 2.2x the typical town's 1.6
- None public swimming pools open Worse: Against the typical English town's 0.7 per 10,000 people
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 11.58pm last bus out on a Wednesday Worse: Earlier than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.4% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 20% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 12.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 21% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,510 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
County Durham council
Have a crap-off
Willington against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.